Rootless
by Sue-Drae
Summary: The Kumo nin pressed their luck and tried to take two heiresses from Konoha. Before they could get away cleanly with the girls, they were intercepted by a group of masked nin. Instead of being returned to their families, the nin take the girls into the shadows. But Danzo miscalculated the power of the bond between the two growing up Root. Uzumaki!OC, Kakashi/OC
1. Chapter 1

_Time was a funny thing. I learned that lesson early in life. It disregarded all laws, especially its own. You can assign numbers and figures to it but that doesn't shorten tense silences or leave time for happier memories. It works in its own special and unique way, just to ruin your day._

_Nine._

_I was nine short years old when my life was ruined, blessed, cursed, and saved. From an outsider's standpoint, I should think I'd be grateful for what I've been given. Looking back, I lost count of the times I wished that I'd been left for dead._

_I was born three years before the Third Great Shinobi War, a series of bad news and fear that dragged on for four years of my life. The next year, however, went by in a blink. Later I discovered why that was: everyone was happy. The Yondaime Hokage was a war hero and kept us all safe from anyone who'd attack. People were getting married, industry was growing, our allies were thriving; it was a great year. Then another dark memory when I was eight years old. I still remember the icy heat of the demon fox's chakra from the night of its attack._

"Rei! Leave her behind!"

I growled at the invisible voice, carrying on with what I was doing.

_But then time moved on. I started to grow. My parents both survived the fox's assault and we were happy for a time, one year to be precise. Although my aunt and uncle, the Yondaime and his wife, did not survive the Kyuubi's attack, the little boy they left behind became my little otouto._

_Two weeks after my ninth birthday, men from Kumo came to finally end the long standoff between Kumo and Konoha. There had been no official treaty that resolved our issues from the Third Great Shinobi War; the only thing keeping even a semblance of peace were squads of guards protecting the borders every day and night._

_The Kumo men arrived to a festival thrown in their honor. The treaty was signed, allowing for an eye for an eye type of agreement that would, in theory, have been the most lenient deal Konoha could have made. We had the better quality forces, even after the Kyuubi attack. It would have cost us lives, though, to win the final battle and lives weren't something the reinstated Sandaime would risk._

_He was too kind, too optimistic._

_That night, the Kumo nin broke into two very specific homes and took two very specific girls. One girl was spirited away cleanly; the other alerted her parents to the danger. Her parents were swiftly killed and she was taken away, none the wiser._

_One girl was Hyuuga Hinata, just two years old at the time. The other was me._

_Why was I so important, to be abducted alongside the shy Hyuuga heiress? Because I was the last known child of a dying line: the Uzumaki line. _

_When Uzushiogakure was targeted and destroyed during the third war, there were very few survivors, with only four known to Konoha: my father, Uzumaki Kushina, Aokawa Renji, and Matena Riku. My father's name was Uzumaki Jun, a cousin of Kushina's. Even so, Kushina became my aunt and was named my godmother. Her Aemi, though just seven months older than me, was my neechan and, when she died alongside her parents during the Kyuubi Attack, her little brother became mine to protect. He became untouchable. Naruto was almost constantly guarded by an ANBU, not to mention my parents. I was the weakest link, the only one they could target._

"Nee-chan, just leave me," a faint voice said. I didn't spare a glance to the small girl on my back. Rather, I ducked down to avoid a new wave of senbon. They glistened slightly as they passed by. _Poison._

"Not a chance," I dismissed. "You know what happens if you get left behind."

"But you know what happens if you don't let me go... You'll only be disciplined." The last word was hardly a whisper. We both knew that to call 'supplementary training' what it really was- punishment- only scheduled another three hour session.

"I can handle it," I insisted, tightening my grip on the small girl lest she decide to be selfless and throw herself off. "If you don't manage your time... You won't be able to take it."

I wasn't exaggerating. The point to this exercise was about timing. If you didn't beat your average score from the last two runs of the course, you went for 'medical training.' What that really meant was forcing you to watch as the on-duty medical nin all but dissected a living human without anesthesia. I had seen it twice, once when I was nine and again when I was eleven, and I wasn't letting my naive imouto face that. She was five. Five years old.

_If I had access back then to what I know now... I would have bitten off my own tongue when they found us. Dark shadows, that was all the were. I knew that they were shinobi, of course. I had aspired for as long as I could to be a kunoichi, so I could be a sealer just like my father and my obachan or a master with lightning-based techniques like my mother. But I hadn't known. I had seen the Konoha emblem on their masks and assumed they'd take me back home and I'd discover that all of this had just been a joke, that kaa-san and tou-san would ruffle my hair and send me off to bed with broad grins and laugh about how they'd tricked me..._

_Oh, how wrong I was._

I skidded over the finish line where an operative was waiting with a clipboard. He, at least I assumed it was a he, scribbled briefly on the paper before looking back at me. In a monotone, he said just four words.

"Zero six hundred, bay."

Internally I sighed with relief. The 'bay' was the easiest of the five supplementary training routines. The training was geared to teach anatomy and poisons to potential medical nin though everyone received a crash course to be the most efficient tool they could be. Some people, who were being trained into solely offensive units, were also introduced to the poisons in small amounts so that their bodies could develop an immunity but only three or four people in an age group went through that training, as it had a fairly high mortality rate.

I hurried my little sister away from the training course, following the familiar route to the mess hall.

The mess hall was one of my least favorite parts about living here. It looked and felt as if someone had just converted a bomb shelter into a dining room. It had low ceilings and dirty walls with an earthen floor. It was a large room, perhaps sixty by fifty yards, but the low ceiling made it cramped and suffocating. The only redeeming factors were that there were no seating charts and that the food was good. It needed to be for us, the potential recruits, to survive the training.

The room was getting close to its usual maximum capacity of about two hundred recruits. The room was a mess of people but there was a rhythm to it; there hadn't been any new 'snatches,' as the older recruits called the rookies. The youngest were around Hinata's age, just four or five years old, while the others ranged up to fourteen. An elite sect of fifteen year olds sitting alone in the corner. They were this year's graduating class. None of them spoke or looked anywhere long enough so that anyone could mistake them for interested. They were in the final stages of behavioral preparedness, a fancy term the older operatives used to refer to the series of events that would crush their personalities until they were ready tools, able to think but not question an order. I'd seen it happen in the three years we'd been here. It happened gradually with most people but, occasionally, the light would suddenly leave someone's eyes. You wouldn't get a response no matter what you did or said unless you asked the most basic of questions which, even then, were answered largely by blank stares and one word answers.

I set my sister down at one of the less crowded tables, as far away as the fifteen year olds as I could. That was a tradition of mine; I didn't want her to know what awaited us in a few long years. If we survived them, that is.

Once she was settled, I went to the far side of the mess hall and got food for both of us, ignoring the glare I received from the pale raven-haired boy beside me. He was younger than me, probably six or seven years old, so I didn't pay him much attention until he opened his mouth.

"Why are you getting two trays?" he said, crossing his arms with an annoyed frown.

"Sai," another boy, this one with gray hair and dark eyes, chided warningly, coming up from behind him. I vaguely recognized him as someone from my age group. "She's getting food for her friend."

"Oh..." Sai said, shrinking down shyly.

"I'm Shin," he introduced to me. "And you're Rei." He must have noticed my confusion because he elaborated. "I've heard you get called for training... You get into a lot of trouble for someone as strong as you are."

"I have an imouto to look after," I said, probably a bit coldly. "If getting supplementary training means that she's safe from that, I'll do it gladly."

"Even if you get endurance?" Shin asked, his voice dropped to a whisper. Against my will, I shuddered as the memories returned to the forefront of my mind, still too raw.

Endurance. The hardest of all the supplementary trainings. You were led to an almost empty room and tied to a chair. After being left alone for an hour or two, in which your own anxiety and fear threatened to overwhelm you each minute, two people would return. One was an operative skilled in T&amp;I. The other was the Head. For the remainder of the three hour session, the operative would 'prepare' you for 'enemy' torture techniques. You learned how to keep a piece of information secret. You learned that, if you screamed, the pain got worse. This supplementary training was generally reserved for fourteen and fifteen year olds. I was a notable exception to that rule. I had my first when I was ten, after I made it clear that I'd take anything thrown at me and throw it back as hard as I could.

"Six," I said, my voice low as I forced my eyes to look up at Shin. "Six times in two years. I'll take it a seventh, and an eighth, and a ninth time if she stays out of it."

Shin's eyes took on a mournful look.

"You know what happens if you get too close to another recruit."

Yes. The graduation ceremony. Initiation. First blood. Pitting brother against brother, sister against sister. It wasn't going to happen to us, though.

I refuse to allow Hyuuga Hinata to die in this.


	2. Chapter 2

I reported to the medical bay at a quarter to six. Not knowing who was on call, it was hard to judge if the medical nin would get as irritated as a shell of a person can become or not. It was safer just to be early. My roommate was already used to me getting up early for supplementary training so she was unbothered when I dashed out of the room long before the sun had risen.

I was lucky; the medical nin on duty for the morning was a kunoichi I had taken to calling Mira. She didn't have a name of her own, but she wasn't against having a name and she didn't mind the one I suggested. She was younger than the other medical nin, only seventeen or so, but she was a skilled physician. Better yet, she allowed me to learn the curriculum for the session in my own way. I had full access to the library of medical scrolls and she wasn't afraid to show me something outside of the lesson. It was through her work, and quite a lot of chakra exercises, that I learned my first healing technique. It wasn't anything spectacular but it helped enormously after difficult exercises or sessions at the dojo. It also made endurance sessions easier. That way, Hinata didn't have to see the full extent of the physical damage.

"What did you do this time?" Mira asked as I said good morning. I shrugged nonchalantly, knowing that, if she hadn't been trained so thoroughly, there would have been an exasperated or even amused lilt in her voice. Now, she spoke in a monotone.

"I helped someone during Agility/Evasion."

"I am surprised that you didn't get another Endurance session," she deadpanned, passing me a series of scrolls. "Within are the next nine poisons and a medical ninjutsu to siphon poison from healthy tissue. Memorize and be able to utilize all ten by the end of the session."

"Is there a-"

"There is a subject for you to attempt the jutsu on," Mira interrupted, answering my question. She gestured to the back of the room and I recognized a small cage. On closer inspection, a terrified rabbit cowered inside. "Start."

I discovered something very early in this little corner of hell. Knowledge was power. Power was freedom. And freedom was... Freedom was everything I wanted.

'Supplementary Training,' while being brutal and often times inhumane, was educational. I learned things through it. Some lessons were more personal than others but I never failed to learn something. Medical bay would teach me how to identify plants and poisons and showed me how to harm or heal a human body. Strategy taught me, as the name suggests, how to formulate complex plans and to stay three steps ahead of my opponent. Stealth/Agility kept me on my toes and made me faster and quieter. Dojo made me a stronger unarmed fighter. And Endurance broke my resolve until I was forced to examine what I wanted. Once I identified that, I could handle any torture the higher-ups planned.

I was getting stronger through their punishments and, one day, I would break out of here. I would use every morsel of strength that was beat and tempered into me, every fragment of knowledge I memorized obediently.

And I would take Hinata out of here. She would be a good ninja, yes, but not for Root. Root's standards were almost impossibly high. She doesn't deserve to feel like a failure for not reaching them, or to lose her life trying.

I would go to the Hokage.

I would take back my life even if I had to throw myself into every 'supplementary training' I could.

* * *

"156 Rei, reporting for Superior Spar Session," I said to the ringmaster, as we called the spar assignment officer. It was his duty to organize any given group of recruits into pairs so that everyone faced at least two opponents each session, one older and one younger, so that everyone gained enough practice. He assigned newly instated operatives to face off against the fifteen year olds and, if you were terribly unlucky, faced you himself. He was notoriously vicious in a taijutsu spar. One of the supplementary training sessions actually dedicated three hours to allow him to beat discipline into that poor recruit. I've had 'dojo' more times than I can count. It took me one try to realize that, even if you fall unconscious, he continues pounding you to a crumpled heap until the session is over. It took another four times for me to get good enough at dodging and thinking quickly to stay awake for the whole session.

"156 Rei... You're with 153 Khan in pit 16."

Each age group was numbered. This year's year olds- my age group- was 156. Hinata was in group 163. 153 would be..- Just my luck. A fifteen year old. I wouldn't win this fight, not to someone three years my senior, but I could force it into a tie if I was lucky and very careful.

I made my way to pit number sixteen. It wasn't really a pit; the dojo was divided into fifty different blocks, each with a number for efficiency's sake. Everything was about efficiency. Kids were given numbers and age groups instead of last names. That killed two birds with one stone: it made the recruits easier to identify and organize and it was the first step in losing individuality. I still knew at heart that I was an Uzumaki but the meaning behind the slipped further away with each uncelebrated birthday. At this point, being an Uzumaki meant that my body was built to handle stressful training, something I appreciated when I arrived at pit 16 to see a scrawny kid, barely taller than I was. It was the skinny recruits you had to watch out for; they were the fastest of the lot and generally were the least predictable opponents, especially if they made it to age fifteen.

I settled into my taijutsu posed, exhaling a slow breath.

153 Khan rushed forward, his eyes void of all emotion. I raised my arm to parry a blow and the spar began with a flurry of swipes and kicks. Neither of us would slow or stop until the ringmaster called us to switch partners.

* * *

Free time was something recruits were hardly ever granted. A very brief break between exercises, yes, but free time? Free time led to free thought, which was considered the most dangerous thing since the kunai was invented.

It was because of that reasoning that, when I was told to return to my dormitory instead of going to Genjutsu Training, I knew something was wrong. Even so, it was an order. An order could only be disobeyed with free thought. I'd be in for double Endurance at a bare minimum if I was suspected of trying to break free of the mold. It was true that I slowly was, but I didn't want to be suspected of it.

Complying, I went to my room. Endurance taught me how to control my body language to hide my anxiety but I didn't have as much discipline over my thoughts.

_Another session or two_, I thought to myself mockingly.

To distract myself, I took out my standard issue tanto and, with a practiced ease, began sharpening the blade with a dry stone kept on my one shelf in the small room. Like everyone else, I was taught kenjutsu. I wasn't particularly good but I was capable enough to hold my own well enough, especially with all of the agility training I landed myself into.

By the time I had sharpened my tanto and each of the six kunai I was permitted to carry due to my status as an twelve year old recruit, a shadow appeared under my door. There was no knock before the door was flung open but I refused to allow my body to jump. I slid my dry stone against the already sharp edge of a kunai once more before looking up with a blank look. Standing in my doorway was an operative I hadn't recognized before. He wore a mask with a single blue line that dropped from the corner of his right eye to his jaw but, other than that, had no other decoration. He wore a standard ANBU uniform with one addition: a dark armband with a symbol that I half-recognized from the introductory study into Konoha's hierarchy. It was a simple design: three connected whirlpools of silver on a dark scarlet base.

"Don't speak; just follow," he ordered before I could say a word which, in hindsight, was his objective. Nodding mutely, I put away my weapons and stood, following him down the winding corridors in a route I had never, in my three years here, had taken or even noticed. He stopped abruptly before a door and, without a word or otherwise, opened the door, pushed me inside, and slammed the door shut, sealing me in total darkness. I heard the lock click. After that, I couldn't hear anything. It wasn't that I was deaf, there was a complete lack of sound.

"Well... This is ominous," I muttered to myself. Turning away from the dark, I sighed tiredly. _This better not be a test._

I unsheathed my tanto and gently tapped the floor in front of me, prepared to duck or jump to avoid any unpleasant surprises. To my cautious relief, seemingly nothing was activated when I took a calculated step further, or another. I felt my way into the dark room, though perhaps _felt _wasn't the best word as there wasn't anything for me to grab that I could see. After a few more paces, though, I found something.

_Wooden... Flat... Table_, I decided to myself. I brushed my hand gingerly against the desk, frowning when I felt papers brush up against my hand. I groped around a bit more until I felt an engraving in the wood. Frowning, I traced the shape. Recognizing the symbol from a lifetime ago, I pushed chakra to my fingertips and pressed my hand against the marking.

As I pushed chakra into the engraving, a soft yellow light began to filter out of the array. As the light grew brighter, I turned my eyes to example the rest of the room, my jaw falling open ever so slightly as I looked upon the shelves and shelves of scrolls that lined the room. It wasn't a particularly large room but, looking around, I estimated an easy two hundred scrolls. Looking back at the table, which I now realized was actually a desk, I recognized that the piece of paper I had brushed my hand against was a letter.

_I was a close friend of your father's, once upon a time. He was a good ninja and an even better man. When you were taken in, a team was sent to gather evidence from your home that you'd ever existed and destroy it, just as an operative within the Hokage's Office was sent to bury the official records of your birth... The Head got an Uzumaki without having to do any of the dirty work for once. He was happier than I'd ever seen him when he discovered that the Hyuuga girl was with you when you were brought in._

_I'm sick of it. I didn't sign up for any of this and I know all too well that you didn't. That's why... That's why I'm giving you this._

_Everything in this room, every scroll, every shelf, this old desk, even the paper I'm writing on- this was all from your old man's study. It's every seal he's ever written down, every jutsu he's theorized, and every plan he never lived to see fulfilled. I'm giving this to you, as his will dictated._

_This room, by all rights, does not exist. So many genjutsu are layered into the door that the entire Uchiha clan could stroll right past and not even realize it's there. The room is sealed with a sort of privacy seal, one designed to shift time. From what I understand from your father's notes, each day you spend in there is but a minute in the outside world- the famed Tsukuyomi, trapped into a seal._

_Use this time wisely. Study everything you can but be careful. I was not able to allot much time for you to do this. You have only an hour and a half, ninety days in your time, to finish with the room. When the ninety days have passed, leave the room. You will not be able to find it again, but it is for the best._

_You won't see me again._

_I am sorry._

_Aokawa R_

Aokawa Renji. He had supposedly died. That was what my father had been told. I remembered; he couldn't believe it. He refused to acknowledge his friend's death until the day of his funeral, when they buried an empty casket because the body couldn't be recovered without risking others' lives, something Renji wouldn't have wanted.

Is _this _what happened to him? Root?

_You won't see me again... _I repeated, feeling dread well up inside of me. _What did that-_

It clicked and I bowed my head, praying that he'd be happier in the next life. He wasn't a bad person, I knew. He was snatched, just as much as Hinata and I were.

Swallowing hard, I gently laid the letter back onto the desk beneath me before turning my eyes to the scrolls.

I had a lot of reading to do.


	3. Chapter 3

Though I already knew that my math was perfect, I counted the days again. _Ninety days. Ninety minutes. When I walk outside of that door... Everything will be different._

I wasn't the same person I was, not anymore. I learned too much to have stayed the same. Tucked away with all the fuinjutsu notes were personal diaries, a photo album, official documents- things that connected me to the family I didn't get to keep. These things, against my better judgment, were sealed into a small tattoo I'd given myself on the underside of my foot. No one would think to check there for a storage seal and the few ties I had to my family were safe.

There was just one other thing sealed into that small tattooed storage seal: a small journal. It was filled with hastily drawn diagrams and disconnected thoughts, but it was a treasure. My father had maintained ties with his cousin, Kushina, after Uzushio's destruction. Through her, he had met Namikaze Minato, the later-Yondaime Hokage. Drawn together by their studies with fuinjutsu, the two men would often theorize new seals together. Each design, each half-finished train of thought, each detail scrawled within the journal culminated to equal an intellectual treasure trove. It contained many of my father's personal techniques but also had vague directions into creating two signature moves of the Yondaime: the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. I hadn't been able to put much energy into studying either in great detail, but I kept the knowledge close to me. With the Hiraishin at my disposal, escape would only be that much easier.

Ninety days had passed. Ninety short, torture-less days.

I opened the door out of my sanctuary and reemerged myself in my old world, leaving behind the dusty scrolls and shelves from my father's work.

* * *

Nine.

I had been nine years old when I was drafted into Root. Now, as I approached my fifteenth birthday, I knew my time was short. But it was working. I was strong and Hinata was stronger than ever. She could run the Agility/Evasion Course without my help and kept pace with the others in her age group easily. At eight years old, she was capable of water ninjutsu I had only just mastered. My pride told me that it was because my chakra naturally leaned towards lightning attacks, but I had to admit that it was impressive. She had been trained individually with one of the other, albeit few, Hyuuga in Root to develop and strengthen her Byakugan and further her Jyuuken training which, as I understood, was coming along nicely. She was very strong for a eight year old. Just not Root strong.

I was Root strong. I was top of my class, despite my repeated punishments, in nearly everything. I was fast on my feet, adept at picking up new and difficult ninjutsu, an expert sealer (though not even Hinata knew about that), I was capable with my tanto, I could beat my opponent, be they another fourteen year old or a newly instated operative. My genjutsu was somewhat lacking; I wasn't great at casting anything over a B-ranked genjutsu but I could break all but the highest genjutsu thrown at me. I was physically stronger than many of my fellow 156s thanks to my supplementary training in the dojo. I knew medicinal herbs, poisons, and the human body like the back of my hand. I could heal most wounds fairly easily thanks to what felt like months of chakra exercises to efficiently wield my larger than normal chakra reserves. And, as I discovered in my latest Endurance session, I developed a new tolerance for pain. I knew what was being done, I just choose not to let myself experience the pain.

It frightened me.

Even without the final conditionings, I could feel my eyes begin to cloud over.

Like the other recruits, I began taking missions with experienced operatives when I turned fourteen. The missions got harder and bloodier with each passing month and I could feel the self-preservative instinct to retreat within myself to protect my mind from the more scarring of the missions. It became harder and harder to force light into my eyes so Hinata couldn't see. I couldn't protect her from my growing reputation, though. The other recruits joked that I could drop a man in a heartbeat with my chakra alone and I began to become known as the Inazuma Senkou, the _Lightning Flash._

But my plans took shape. The Hiraishin still escaped my grasp, but I could sense that that was only because I didn't have a safe place to practice it. I felt strong enough. Call me confident or cocky, I was getting out.

* * *

October 5th. It was the day before my fifteenth birthday. It began as normal as days were here. I went to supplementary training- strategy this time- and then went to eat breakfast with my fellow recruits. I sat away from the other 156s. Most of them had turned fifteen and had by now relocated to the end of the mess hall to join the silent sect. Hinata sat with me, though farther away than usual. She was distancing herself, preparing herself for the day that I looked right past her without a thought. She knew what would happen. She thought it was inevitable.

It wasn't.

Today, we only had one exercise together: Agility and Evasion. In other words, operatives would take us out of the compound and force us to run back. It was a good enough idea, since it was patrolled by operatives, but an operative or two wouldn't be impossible to defeat with Hinata's help. Then we'd be free to run. More importantly... We'd be free.

"Activate your Byakugan," I murmured to Hinata as we, the 156s and 163s, readied ourselves at the startline. She shot me a confused look but nodded. She closed her eyes briefly, focusing her chakra, before her lavender eyes snapped open, the veins around them growing more prominent as her dojutsu activated.

"Your time will begin on mark."

A normal person would have said _my_ mark. In Root, to use pronouns such as 'my' implied individuality. To have individuality was considered a fault. To have a fault made you a broken tool, replaceable.

"3..."

I need to get out.

"2..."

I _will_ get out.

"1..."

It's time.

"Mark!"

We ran into the trees.

"Do you trust me?" I asked in a low voice. _So close..._

"With my life," was her steadfast response, though her mouth was pulled into a concerned frown. I bit my lip and we continued dashing between the trees. A long moment of tense silence passed before I spoke again.

"Hina-chan, keep an eye out for ops," I hissed, knowing her ears would pick up on it. "Tell me when there's a break or a weak point in the gauntlet."

"Hai, nee-chan," she breathed, her eyes widening slightly. I kept my pace slow enough for her to not strain herself. There was no need in pushing myself early, and it wasn't as if I'd be subjected to 'medical training' when all was said and done. Hinata and I would either be on the outside or in a cell, or worse. I tried not to think about the 'or worse.'

We were almost halfway finished with the three mile long course when Hinata's muscles tensed. I looked at her pointedly and, without a word, her eyes darted to a tight group of trees not far ahead of us.

"I'm breaking out, Hina-imouto. And I am bringing you with me. We can get to the main village. You'll see your parents again. I'll talk to the Hokage and force Head to know that he made a mistake when he drafted us. I can't promise that we'll make it out cleanly, but we'll make it. I-"

"Okay," Hinata interrupted, a strained smile on her face. After a moment, she looked up at me ruefully. "I don't think I'd recognize my parents anymore, nee-chan... You've been the one to protect me for as long as I can remember."

I allowed myself to drift nearer to that point, trying to think of what to say next.

It was depressing that Hinata couldn't remember a life outside of Root. A life where she was the Hyuuga heiress. A life where she was happy. A life where I wasn't her nee-chan and she wasn't my imouto.

Six. Nearly six years we'd been here. That was over two thirds of her life spent jumping at shadows, accepting punishments without committing a crime, and hiding behind me for protection. I loved that I could provide her with something, but I'd rather have her as far away from me as possible if that meant she'd be with her parents again. Parents who'd love her unconditionally because she was theirs. It was too late for me to salvage my family- I was alone- but she had a chance.

"I'll always protect you, imouto-chan," I promised. "Having parents won't change that."

Silence reigned as we approached the thick group of trees. As we flashed towards the border separating the course from the wilderness, Hinata's voice drifted to me over the wind.

"You've been my parents."

My leaps brought me across the border and my inner sealer blared an alarm throughout my body as I felt the boundary pass.

_Shit_.

"They know!" I threw Hinata onto my back, knowing that, if I had to keep pace with her, neither of us would get away.

Something grey and sharp whizzed by me, cutting a few red strands of hair free. I didn't allow myself to slow. If anything, I laid on the speed, pushing chakra to my legs and feet to strengthen my muscles.

"How many?" I demanded of Hinata. She narrowed her eyes over my shoulder.

"Four," she reported, sounding scared.

ANBU were human. They had mercy, just like every other person. Root ANBU were relentless. They weren't human, not anymore. The four chasing us would never give up.

A deadly game of cat and mouse had begun. The only question now was... Who would win?


	4. Chapter 4

Heart monitors. The steady beeping of a heart monitor was the first sound I heard when I awoke. I was relieved to hear it, though it took me a moment to realize why.

Root didn't use heart monitors. If you were a particularly good operative, they had pulse monitoring seals but even those were seldom used. If defeated in battle, you were a broken tool. If you were badly wounded, you were wasted space and years of resources. Nothing was gained if you were kept clinging to life in the medical bay and nothing was lost if you died.

I forced my eyes open, squinting slightly though the light in the room was dim. My throat was tight and my mouth dry. A metallic taste I recognized as blood was lingering on my tongue and, as I tried to swallow it away, deep scratches on my face and neck reopened. Every inch of me felt bruised and battered and, doing a mental diagnostic, I had at least two cracked ribs and a broken wrist. My chakra levels were beginning to recover, though, and soon the energy would rush to my wounds to speed up the healing process.

I was elated.

The pale color scheme was starkly different from Root's medical bay. An IV dripped a translucent blue liquid I distantly recognized as RC8, a chakra restorative, into my bloodstream. I could feel bandages beneath the thin hospital gown I'd been changed into and, on the small end table beside my bed, there was a dark brown teddy bear. While the smile embroidered onto the bear's face was slightly sinister and the toy was far too childlike for my taste, I appreciated the sentiment. Better than all of that, though, was the sight I caught across the room. There was another bed, in which lay a small girl with dark blue hair. She was resting peacefully and, aside from a small bandage on her cheek, she seemed largely unharmed.

Briefly, I studied the room. My training compelled me to catalogue the exits, possible weapons, and potential areas to bottleneck any attackers. Once that scan was over, I allowed myself to study the room as a civilian might. It was a reasonably sized room with curtains, now pulled back, were strung about the room to separate it into four quadrants. In each quadrant was a bed but Hinata and I were the only patients in the room. I could count three windows, each large enough for me to slip out of, on the far right wall and another two on either side of my bed behind me. The door was to my left in the far corner, closer to Hinata's bed. Dotting the walls were some basic equipment, drawers, and cupboards. The crash cart was concerningly close to my bed, making me wonder if it had been needed while I was unconscious.

Steeling my nerves, I threw the blankets out of my legs. I twisted on the bed so my feet grazed the tile floor. Shivering slightly at the cold linoleum, I pushed against the bed, forcing myself to my feet carefully. Standing, I leaned heavily on the bed, my breathing slightly labored as my ribs protested the movement.

Without warning, the door was flung open and a woman strode in wearing what I vaguely recognized as doctor's scrubs. She was in her mid thirties with mousy brown hair streaked with silver and cut short to stay out of her face. Dark jade eyes glanced briefly to Hinata before moving on to me. As she studied me, her mouth fell open slightly.

"Back in bed," she commanded, recovering with a frown. "Can't have you hurting yourself more, sugar."

I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. Giving me a decisive nod, the doctor strode to a cupboard, taking out a small carton before coming to my side. She set the carton on the end table and all but forced me back into the bed, wrapping me in the blankets with practiced ease. When I vaguely resembled a burrito with arms, she pressed the carton into my hand. I stared at it blankly.

"Juicy Juice?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the name. The doctor frown ever so slightly as I studied the carton. After a moment, she took it from me and stabbed a straw into the top.

"Drink," she ordered. I obeyed hesitantly before my eyes widened ever so slightly.

"It's good..."

"Of course it is," she said patiently. She paused, hesitating. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

Of course I do.

"I need to see the Hokage," I said seriously. The woman looked at me with concern.

"That'll have to wait. When you came in, you had some very... severe... injuries, sugar. Also, the Hokage is a very busy man. Unless you-"

"Can I see my chart?"

"As your physician, I don't think that's a good idea," she said gently. I looked at her seriously.

"Doctor, I have been trained for six years now and that training has included a very thorough study into anatomy and medical technique. If you don't want me to see my chart because you think I'll panic, I assure you that I have likely been injured worse and I have _definitely _seen worse injuries."

She paused, her mouth pulled down into a concerned frown. Even so, she fetched my chart from the edge of my bed. She passed it to me cautiously and studied my face as I flipped it open, my eyes scanning the paper.

The first thing I recognized was my identity. In lieu of my actual name, as there was no way to identify me and any records of my birth had been removed from public records, I was Jane Doe 15-6. _156_. Quickly pushing that out of the forefront of my mind, I skimmed through the rest of my chart, a grimace pulling at my lips. I had gotten worse injuries in the dojo but that didn't mean that anything I had was minor. Lacerations that had required stitches, a severely broken wrist, two cracked ribs, one broken rib, severe chakra exhaustion, the list went on.

"How long was I out?" I asked, glancing at the date of admission, October 7th, two days after Hinata and I made a run for it.

"Almost two days. We intended to keep you under until your injuries were better healed, but-"

"I have a fast metabolism," I said absently, glancing at the amount of drugs that I had been put on to keep me unconscious. _So today's the ninth._ "When can I be discharged?"

"Even if you are a ninja, you don't have a hitai-ate. It's hospital policy that minors under the age of fifteen are required to have a parent or guardian come to bring them home."

"That's perfect. I turned fifteen on the sixth," I said honestly. The woman looked at me dubiously but did not stop me from standing again. Even so, she tried to convince me otherwise.

"You're still injured," she protested. I sighed, exasperated.

"I am Uzumaki Rei, the last of a line of master sealers and shinobi of legendary power. My father was Uzumaki Jun, a personal friend of the Yondaime Hokage, and my mother was Raiden Arisu, the Kaminari Dansaa. I am a shinobi of Konohagakure and Hinata-chan and I are leaving."

"Hinata-sama's father will not allow her to be discharged until she is fully recovered," the doctor said, clearly thinking she had an advantage. After all, who was I to interfere with family matters?

"Hinata-chan is only Hiashi-sama's concern if she wishes to be. She is old enough to make her own decisions."

"She is a child!" The woman opened her mouth to continue in her argument but I was too fast. I jumped to my feet and, with a quick push of lightning chakra, jabbed her twice in the abdomen. A strangled noise escaped her throat before she fell unconscious. I caught her, wincing slightly as my ribs protested, and laid her out on the bed, glad I had grown during my years in Root.

After a moment, once I was sure that no one had heard the commotion, I rummaged around through the drawers and shelves before grinning, finding Hinata's and my belongings and clothes. I quickly stripped out of the hospital gown and donned my ANBU armor, my hand pausing over a pure white mask. Each recruit receives a blank mask for their fifteenth birthday that gets decorated when they are finally integrated into Root's ranks. It had been an early birthday present from Mira. Swallowing, I put the mask on, shifting it to the side of my head for now. Grabbing Hinata's belongings, I strode to her side. After scanning her chart, I carefully detached her from the medical equipment and, though my reserves were already taxed, I pushed chakra to my hand once more, now intending to heal. I rested one palm on her forehead and my other on her heart, my chakra drifting into her. She gasped awake, her eyes wide with shock. Seeing me, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nee-chan..."

"Ohayo, imouto-chan.I'm going to see if I can arrange a meeting with the Hokage. Do you want to come with me or wait here for your family? I'm sure someone will-"

"I'm coming," she interrupted, throwing the blankets off of her. She only had a few minor injuries- shallow lacerations, bruises- so she was free to go. Even so, I looked at her with concern as she quickly changed into her armor.

"Are you well enough to shunshin?" I asked as she strapped her tanto to her back.

"Are you?" she returned. I hesitated before chuckling.

"Let's find out, shall we?" I reached out my hand and Hinata took it. Together, we disappeared into a fold of shadows, a variation that left less evidence than a swirl of leaves and was significantly easier to disguise than a puff of smoke.

* * *

I soon found myself at a desk outside of the Hokage's office. I stood straight, my mask in place but henged to resemble an active ANBU's. Hinata also had a forged mask but, as an incomplete replica, she stood in my shadow where its flaws were less noticeable.

"Lioness and Wolf to report to Hokage-sama," I reported to the receptionist. She hardly glanced at me before waving me in. Behind my mask, my jaw dropped at the lax security. Even so, I didn't hesitate to move forward. I knocked twice on the Hokage's door before entering.

The door had hardly closed when Hinata and I were pushed against a wall by a pair of ANBU, their katanas dangerously close to our jugulars. The operative restraining me held his forearm across my chest, holding me against the wall without effort. It took all of my restraint to not react. If I injured one of the Hokage's guards, I doubted he'd be very understanding.

"ANBU-san, we mean no harm," I said as clearly as I could with the pressure on my chest. The ANBU's head tilted ever so slightly towards the Hokage, looking for orders.

"Remove their masks," he ordered. I kept my arms still, making no move to resist. I heard a gasp as Hinata's mask melted away to reveal her pale eyes. My own mask was taken off my face rather roughly and my red and silver hair fell loose. I looked up at the ANBU holding me, studying his body language before turning to look at the Hokage.

"It's been a while, Hokage-sama," I said softly. My voice sounded oddly broken but I composed myself quickly. "Six years now, jii-san."

"Rei-chan?" he breathed, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening as his eyes widened in shock. I nodded, ignoring the blade still at my neck. Sarutobi Hiruzen looked to the two ANBU. "Release them."

"Hokage-sama, they-"

"Release them," he repeated, his voice leaving no room for argument. The guards obeyed without another word and I stumbled ever so slightly as they disappeared. My eyes tracked them to the ceiling but I pushed their presence out of my mind.

I stared up at the man who I remembered so clearly. He had come to my sixth birthday party. I still remembered the beautiful blue kimono he'd given me. He had always seemed so kind and hopeful. Now he seemed exhausted and weighed down though I could tell seeing Hinata and I relieved some of his burden.

"Rei, what happened to you?" he asked, his voice carefully composed but his eyes betraying pain. "There were so many people looking for you two, but there wasn't any sign of you. Not even the tracker nin could get a reading."

Biting my lip, I glanced around the room before flying into a series of hand seals. The ANBU on the ceiling stirred, ready to react, but the elderly Hokage stayed them with a wave. Once I finished the long string of seals, I bit my thumb and drew a seal on the floor. As soon as I withdrew my hand, the seal began to glow purple. The glow spread throughout the room before dying out completely, my seal fading into the wood floor as if it had never been created.

"A privacy seal?" Hiruzen asked, sounding impressed but wary. I nodded.

"This can't leave the room, not yet..." I took a breath before speaking again. "Danzo has been busier than you know, jii-san... On the night the Kumo nin came for Hinata-imouto and I, we were tracked. His subordinates killed the men that took us before returning us to the base."

With every word I said, Hiruzen grew more and more pale. At first I thought he was stunned but, looking into his eyes, I quickly realized that he was angry. A steady wave of killing intent began to emanate from the God of Shinobi in such a large amount that, had I not been trained for this, I might have passed out. As it was, Hinata began to shake ever so slightly. I drew her close, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. She nodded thankfully as Hiruzen tried to compose himself.

"Rei-chan, can you-"

"I can locate the base and give figures... I know the training methods, the punishments. I can identify the masks of the Root ANBU. I have all the information you should need," I confirmed softly. "But it needs to stop, jii-san."

"It will stop," he vowed. "I suspected that Root was still going strong, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. I didn't have any solid information to go off of... But what will you do now, Rei, Hinata?"

"I'm taking my life back, jii-san. I suppose I'll move back into my old house, assuming my parents' will was honored. I'll join the regular forces, maybe go for ANBU in a few years."

"And you, Hinata?" At his question, the Hyuuga frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't know, Hokage-sama... My family will want me to go back to the compound, but I don't want that. I... I just want to live with my nee-chan!"

At her declaration, something inside of me broke but something much larger healed. Hiruzen looked to me, an eyebrow raised, and I nodded quickly, wrapping my arms around Hinata.

"Like I'd let you go that easily," I laughed under my breath softly. She sniffed, her shoulders shaking ever so slightly as she tried to stop the tears. "I was planning on kidnapping you, anyway," I said, making her laugh weakly.

"This will cause a lot of contention," Hiruzen warned tiredly. "Hiashi will likely demand his daughter returned and the council will be divided on the matter."

"The council can do whatever they want..." I grumbled before recalling something. "Jii-san, what happened to my father's seat on the council?"

"It's been left empty. You could, in theory, reclaim it once you are a legal adult. There will also be a lot of debate on your parentage. Your records have- Danzo." The warhawk's name sounded like an expletive.

"Yeah... He sent operatives to destroy my records. But one of my dad's friends, Aokawa Renji, managed to save most of the official documents. I have them, safe and sound. Besides, how many red and silver haired, silver-eyed kunoichi have ever been born to this village? And they can check my medical records from the hospital to confirm the Uzumaki accelerated healing and stamina. I also have my mom's lightning chakra, which isn't too common in Konoha either."

Hiruzen nodded, confident that my seat will be secured.

"I think you should go home now, Rei. Come back tomorrow, once you've rested. I'll have my receptionist keep an eye out for you."

"Oh, about her, you might want a replacement. She barely looked at my mask before waving me in. I don't think she even saw Hinata-imouto." Again, my words made Hiruzen frown.

"I see... Thank you for bringing that to my attention." He was silent for a moment before clearing his throat, looking up with a new dedication. "I'm assigning an ANBU guard for you two. I'm sure you can defend yourselves but I can't risk either of you getting hurt. You're far too important."

"A guard?" I grimaced. Hiruzen looked at me seriously.

"Unless you want two...?"

"A guard!" I exclaimed with false cheerfulness. The elderly man rolled his eyes, shaking his head ever so slightly.

"Go home," he said again. Smirking slightly, I lifted the eight year old Hinata onto my back, giving the Hokage a vaguely mocking salute before leaving, shouting a goodbye over my shoulder.

"Nee-chan, you're loud," Hinata whispered in my ear. I raised an eyebrow before humming thoughtfully, my expression softening.

"I'm... happy."

* * *

After a quick trip to the house in which I discovered that, while it was kept reasonably clean in my absence, there was absolutely nothing edible in the building, I raided the safe in my parents' old bedroom, surprised that it had been untouched. Then again, I doubted many people would search under the floorboards under the bed for a safe the size of a shoebox. Once I had accumulated a fair amount of money, Hinata and I went to the shopping district which was distinctly larger than the last time I'd been here.

Soon enough we were laden with bags of groceries and clothes. We couldn't get away with wearing ANBU armor for any length of time, especially since neither of us bore the ANBU tattoo. As it was, we were henged into normal clothing though a good jounin would be able to see through the ruse.

Returning home quickly, Hinata and I stocked the kitchen. The fridge and cupboards were soon filled with food, nearly all of it healthy. I doubted that either of us would be able to eat any too-sugary foods for a while. Our bodies simply wasn't used to it.

After a quick dinner in which Hinata and I both discovered that neither of us were exceptional chefs, I recognized a presence in the hall. I walked towards the doorway, motioning for Hinata to stay quiet. Once at the doorway, I called into the hall.

"There's no point in hiding," I said, my tone slightly mocking. A figure formed out of the shadows and I recognized the mask as a dog. Immediately, I froze, my eyes widening as I recognized the chakra signature of the ANBU in front of me. "Kakashi?"


	5. Chapter 5

Arms wrapped around me.

_Kakashi._

I leaned forward, pulling myself closer to the man's chest.

"I thought you were dead," he murmured, his voice catching in his throat ever so slightly. I laughed, but the noise was hollow.

"You won't get rid of me that easily," I mumbled confidently.

Kakashi was one of the few remaining people who have known me since birth. He had been seven when I was born at which time a funny little error might have ended in a marriage contract between us. While other little girls dreamed of their prince, I always had mine. Kakashi had at first been embarrassed by the contract, but I was... persistent. One of my favorite memories, odd though it may be, was during the Third Great Shinobi War. I had been six years old, Kakashi had been thirteen. It was just after his first mission as a jounin and he was so depressed at the loss of his teammate, Obito. I convinced him to go on a picnic with me and, somewhere along the line, we drifted too far away and drew the attention of an Iwa scout. He tried to attack us but Kakashi beat him, swearing to always keep me safe. That promise didn't exactly work out but I still appreciated it to this day.

"Rei-nee?" Hinata asked from the doorway, her voice betraying her confusion. I pulled away from Kakashi slightly to look at her.

"Hinata-imouto, this is Hatake Kakashi," I introduced. "Kakashi, this is my little sister, Hinata."

"Hyuuga Hinata?" Kakashi asked, glancing between us. I nodded, grimacing slightly when Hinata answered.

"I was two when we were snatched. Rei took care of me and raised me like her own," Hinata said proudly. Kakashi laughed under his breath lightly but the smile beneath his mask didn't reach his eyes.

"Well someone had to keep you out of trouble."

"But no one else would have." Hinata's response was quiet and left the room in a heavy silence. I released my hold on Kakashi to embrace my little sister.

"I told you, Hina-chan. I will always protect you," I reminded her. When I pulled back, I flicked her nose lightly. "As Kushina-oba would say, -ttebane."

Kakashi suddenly straightened, his one visible eye shooting to me.

"Have you seen him?" he asked urgently. I cocked my head to the side with confusion.

"Seen who?"

"Naruto."

"Naru...to..." I frowned, thinking. I gasped, remembering. "Naruto! What happened to him?! Where is he?! Has the village been treating him right? If they haven't I'll-"

"Rei-chan, I need you to take a deep breath," Kakashi counseled, interrupting my threats and promises of torture as they got more and more creative, fueled by my own experiences in Endurance. I glared at him lightly but it melted away quickly.

"Where is he?" I asked softly.

"I'll take you to him tomorrow. I usually guard him for the duration of the festival," Kakashi said, glancing away from me. It was all the information I needed.

"Take me to him. Now," I ordered as calmly as I could. Kakashi looked as if he wanted to argue but thought better of it.

"Hinata, you're staying here," Kakashi said to the young girl. I looked at him incredulously.

"Yes, leave the former Hyuuga heiress Root runaway completely unguarded less than four days after we escaped. _Brilliant_ plan there, Ka-"

"Hokage-sama ordered another ANBU here," he interrupted. I was silenced for just a moment, angry and shocked.

"He said he'd just have one-"

"For each of you. Don't be mad at him. He doesn't want to lose you again. None of us do," Kakashi said softly. I sighed, still irritated. "The other operative is patrolling the property line; the blood seals your father set in the gate are still strong enough to keep him out."

"He could have just told me! I don't like being guarded. I've jumped at shadows for six years; adding comrades into the mix just makes it harder for me to defend myself," I grumbled.

"Rei?" Kakashi asked, his voice concerned. Luckily, Hinata seemed to understand my position.

"It's weird to..." Hinata paused, looking for the right word. Deciding, she grinned victoriously. "To trust. Go on, Rei-nee. We'll be here when you come back."

"Five's a crowd," I stressed. Hinata nodded once in agreement and I turned to Kakashi, my mouth pulled down in a frown. "Take me to him."

* * *

We drew to a stop in a poor neighborhood bordering the slums, if not just within the district line. From the outside, I could see signs of vandalism and shoddy repair and I at once had to reign in my anger and any killing intent I might have released. I didn't want to wake anyone up, not this late, without good reason.

"Ostracism? Vandalism? Violence? Where does it end, Kakashi?" I asked, my voice a whisper. Kakashi looked down shamefully and I knew the answer. "Is it the civilians, the shinobi, or both?"

"Rei-"

"Who? Who is responsible?" I asked, my voice gaining strength and anger. Kakashi closed his one visible eye and I forced myself to take a steadying breath. "The date. It's the ninth. What would happen tomorrow?"

I asked the completely right or totally wrong question, as Kakashi visibly winced. When I spoke again, my voice was cold and emotionless. It was the voice of a Root nin.

"Kakashi. Go protect Hinata."

"Rei-"

"I can't ensure that you won't get injured if I lose my temper." It was my biggest fault, my hamartia. Though not much did thanks to years of conditioning, if something _got_ to me, I wasn't to be held responsible for my actions. In the past, I had episodes of blind rage after which, on more than one occasion, I'd wake up with bloodied hands. No one would ever talk about it but I quickly caught on to what happened when recruits went missing or were heavily and mysteriously injured. I knew it was me. It had to be me.

They- the ignorant civilians and the hate-blinded shinobi- were taking their misbeliefs out on an innocent boy. He was eight years old.

Naruto wasn't the monster.

I was.

"I'll try very hard to not kill anyone," I promised. Kakashi's expression hardened and he stood his ground.

"You aren't leaving my sight."

"Can I have an estimated time of when that will end?"

The question hung in the air until it was quietly answered by Kakashi.

"Never. Now, am I going to have to bring you here tomorrow or will you be alright enough to see him tonight?"

I strode past him for my answer, jumping up to the uppermost apartment. Peering in through the window, my eyes noted other old damages, the worn nature of the furniture, the sloppy paint job that only mostly covered up what I recognized as threats, and the overall state of disrepair. Food wrappers dotted the floor along with dirty laundry, but the place seemed reasonably cared for, seeing as an eight year old lived there alone. Wrapped in almost threadbare blankets was a little boy with a shaggy mess of blond hair. From my angle, I couldn't see the sets of whisker-like markings but I knew they were there.

Recalling my training, I opened the window, briefly noting the damage done to the frame indicative of previous, less elegant, break ins, and crept in without a sound. The boy remained asleep and I got ready for the long haul. I seated myself at the foot of my bed, taking a meditating position. Sensing Kakashi looking at me, I explained in a soft voice so as to not disturb Naruto's sleep.

"If I wake him, he'll be scared. I don't want him to be afraid of me, Kakashi..."

After a few minutes of silence, Kakashi sat beside me. After a tense moment, he wrapped an arm around me and I smiled softly, leaning towards him.

* * *

I heard them before I saw them. The sun had hardly begun to rise when the sounds of shuffling feet and muffled cursing rang in my ears. I hadn't fallen asleep but Kakashi, who fell asleep less than an hour ago, jolted awake. My body reacted on instinct as he reached for a kunai and, after just a few seconds, I froze.

"Sorry," I mumbled, my eyes wide. I was straddling the nin, his visible eye slightly widened as well and his breathing labored. It was clear to see why; I had my tanto in a reverse grip at his throat with my right hand while my left elbow and wrist pressed painfully into his shoulders, negating his ability to move towards a weapon. Blushing, I leaned back and sheathed my tanto with a practiced movement.

"It's alright," Kakashi managed to say as I got to my feet and retreated towards Naruto's bedside. The boy had somehow slept through the brief altercation, leading me to breathe a sigh of relief. "Your eyes..."

I knew what he was talking about. I bowed my head, not sure if it was stress or shame that inspired me to do so.

"... I-"

The boy in the bed beside me gasped awake, shooting to an upright position with a wordless scream. Pushing death threats aimed at the villagers out of my mind, I sat down beside the boy, hugging him to me.

"Hush... It's okay," I murmured softly, tracing circles into his back. He stiffened at the contact and I grimaced, glad he couldn't see my face. "It's okay, Naruto-kun... I won't hurt you. I will _never_ hurt you."

"Who- Who are you?" he asked, pulling out of the hug. I let him go with a sad frown. I traced his facial features and anger welled up inside of me before I could halt it.

"Kakashi. How could _nobody_ recognize him?" I asked, the words carrying more venom than intended. His features were clearly Uzumaki, almost exactly like my own, but his eyes and hair- that was all Namikaze Minato. There wasn't anyone else with that coloring. "He lived with my family for over a year!"

"What?" Naruto asked, pushing himself farther away on the bed. I nodded sadly.

"Naruto-kun... After you were born, my parents took you in. It was their responsibility as your last remaining relatives and-"

"Relatives? Like a family?" His voice was naive, childlike. It forced me to remember that, while forced to grow up faster than normal judging by his living conditions, Naruto's mind didn't function on the same level that Hinata's did. I needed to edit what I said so he'd understand without being overwhelmed.

"Not like a family. We _are_ family," I said seriously. Naruto's brow furrowed with confusion.

"Then where were you?" His voice was angrier than I anticipated but I accepted it silently. "Where were your parents?! The villagers- They- I had to-!"

Incapable of putting his frustrations into words, Naruto's eyes filled with tears. He bit his lip in an attempt to stem the tears but it was too late. He broke down from the inside out and my shoulders began shaking. Not with tears, as his were, but anger.

"Kakashi." His name was short and tense. "Take my tanto and my kunai holster."

He obeyed without a word or wary glance and, once my weapons were secured away from me, I forced myself to take a steadying breath.

The sounds of the mob grew closer and I began to shake more and more violently.

"Naruto-kun, get everything you want to take with you. I'm taking you somewhere you'll be safe from the villagers," I said, my voice clipped. Naruto froze, his eyes darting to Kakashi, who nodded his consent. Assuaged, Naruto scrambled towards his dresser. At first I thought he was going to take out his clothing but the only thing he took from the drawers was a small box. He opened it to double check that whatever within it was safe before tucking it into the pocket of his pajama pants.

He looked to Kakashi and I expectantly and Kakashi's eyes turned to me. I held my arms towards Naruto.

"I won't drop you," I promised. Naruto looked at me somewhat warily for a moment before coming closer. Once I was certain that he wouldn't flinch at the contact, I lifted him onto my hip, securing him to me with my left arm. Looking to Kakashi, I asked, "The villagers?"

"Leave it to me," he nodded. I took a deep breath, returning the nod.

"I'll see you back at the house, then... Don't do anything stupid."

"Rei, I've been in ANBU for almost six years."

"As have I," I reminded him. The temperature in the room dropped and Naruto shifted uneasily in my arms. I glanced at the floor before a snarl escaped my throat. I ducked, pulling Naruto closer to me as a single kunai was launched through the window. Broken glass rained down on us but I couldn't feel it. Naruto's arms tightened around my neck and I clenched my jaw. "If any of them are stupid enough to follow me, Kakashi, I swear I'll-"

"Take Naruto and go; I'll deal with the crowd," Kakashi said, his tone hard. I didn't respond. I only snatched my tanto from Kakashi's protection and knocked out the jagged glass before jumping out of the window in a shunshin.

I didn't allow myself to stop or look back. I wouldn't let Naruto see _that_ side of me, not after everything he's already been through and not with the uproar that would be caused by living with me if my story got out.

I made it to the locked gates of my house which I only just noticed had been renamed. It wasn't the Uzumaki house anymore. The small plaque on the gate labeled it as the Raiden house.

_I guess if anyone could connect the Uzumaki house with Naruto, they would have destroyed the house... Even so..._

"You live here?" Naruto asked, his voice a gasp. I glanced at him as his eyes took in the neighborhood. "Isn't this the noble district?"

"The Uzumaki clan was a noble family. You were cheated out of your inheritance. Without me, this house should have been passed to you," I said softly. I brought my hand to my mouth and bit my thumb before tracing a small seal that was a stark white against the blackened wrought iron gate. Once I finished tracing the pattern, the seal glowed red before bleaching back to white once more. The tumblers on the lock clicked open and I pushed the gate open. It clicked shut behind us as I carried Naruto up the path that led to the path.

The house itself wasn't overly large, as there had never been many Uzumaki in Konoha, but the gardens used to be something beautiful. The path leading from the street to the house itself was made of purple and blue slates. On either side grew grass, now overgrown. A number of weed trees sprouted up in clusters near to their parent oaks and maples. A large gazebo overlooked a koi pond shaped into a wide u to the far right. The fish had long since died and sticky green algae glazed most of the pond's surface, but there used to be black and orange butterfly koi dancing gracefully through the clear water. A small bridge crossed the koi pond at its narrowest point, leading almost directly into the gazebo, giving access to the now-crumbling structure. To the far left and curling around the house was a patio made of the same blue and purple slates as the front path. Flowering and fruiting trees dotted the lawn, mostly cherry and pear trees planted in dark mounds of soil bordered by bluish stone.

"You live here?" Naruto repeated. I smiled, hugging him closer.

"Yes. And you live here too," I reminded him. "Now, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Who? Your parents?" Naruto's voice was so hopeful, it hurt. My throat tightened ever so slightly as I forced a laugh.

"No. I don't live with them anymore." I shifted Naruto slightly in my arms and pushed the front door open, briefly glancing behind me to judge the sun's height in the sky. "She should be awake soon, if she's not already."

"Who?" Naruto asked again. I chuckled.

"My-"

"Nee-chan!" Hinata called from what I recognized immediately as the kitchen. "Is that you?"

"Hai, Hina-chan!" I called back as Naruto shied closer to me. I smiled softly at him. "Don't worry. I think you and Hinata-chan will get along."

"Okay," he said somewhat uneasily as I placed him on the ground. I seized his hand and led him forward, opening the kitchen to discover that the room was a collapsed roof short of a disaster.

"Hinata," I said warningly. The small girl appeared from behind the fridge door, an appropriately sheepish look on her face. "I thought we agreed that I do the cooking."

"But I wanted to make dinner!" she defended weakly. I chuckled, the laugh ending abruptly when Hinata's eyes darted behind me. "Is that Naruto?"

"Go on," I murmured to Naruto, prodding him forward. It was strange to see the two exchange stiff and awkward greetings. I doubted that anyone Naruto's age had tried to befriend him. I knew that Hinata never grew close with anyone her own age. She hardly knew anyone, and everyone that she did know was in Root and a vague acquaintance. I studied the two as they tried to figure out how they should behave; both were painfully out of their comfort zones.

Deciding to spare them, I ordered the two eight year olds to help me clean the kitchen to a workable state. Through the work, I kept up a steady conversation on decidedly safe topics: favorite colors and dreams. I was forced to pause in my scrubbing of the counter when Naruto decidedly declared that his dream was to become Hokage.

_Your father would be proud, Naruto-kun... Proud, but so sad... How you have fallen, Konoha._ Though the boy never outwardly said it, I could see the signs of abuse and neglect in his body language. He was almost perpetually smiling but I could see that he was trying to hide years of pain behind a grin. Judging by his attitude, this mask generally worked but that only made me sad and angry. Anyone who bothered to look even just past the surface would see the truth. It was just that no one had bothered to look that deep.

I was furious, but I kept it hidden between carefully laid layers of soft smiles and easy going laughs. Hinata shot me an occasional concerned look, but I waved them away. If I thought about it, I'd only get angrier. I needed to wait until I could vent these frustrations. If I was lucky, I would be able to escape to train for a while. At the very least, there was a small training field beyond the back patio I could use to vent some anger. Training always helped.

Just as the kitchen was returned to its original state, Kakashi returned, his breathing slightly labored and his uniform flecked with blood. His one visible eye was unspeakably enraged and I carefully avoided eye contact, in case it was contagious.

"Are you hurt?" I asked as soon as I could. He shook his head somewhat tiredly.

"No, but that was the biggest mob we've had in awhile. I had to call for backup," he informed me. I glanced back at the eight year olds before dismissing them from the room.

"Hinata-chan, help Naruto get set up in the bedroom across the hall from mine. After that, I want both of you to meet me in the training ground out back," I said sternly. Naruto nodded twice and Hinata sighed with resignation.

"Hai, kaa-san." I raised an eyebrow but, judging from the way the former Hyuuga heiress snapped her mouth shut with an embarrassed blush, the endearment was unintentional. After a moment of awkward silence, my expression softened and I laughed under my breath.

"Go on up, you two. I'll see you soon," I promised quietly. Hinata seized the opportunity to escape gratefully, snatching Naruto's wrist and dragging him upstairs. Once they were gone, I released a shaking breath and all but fell onto the couch. Kakashi was at my side in an instant, his body language betraying his concern.

"Rei?" he asked carefully. For half a second, I had the most bizarre urge to cry but it was quickly swallowed up by reason and, more strongly, shock.

"She's never called me that before," I managed to say. Swallowing, I continued. "I- Before we left, she told me... She said that I had been her parents, Kakashi. I just didn't- I didn't know..."

"She loves you," Kakashi said, his expression guarded by more than a cloth mask. "And you love her."

"Of course I do," I said quickly. I took a deep breath, holding a hand to my temple. "I just didn't expect-... The Hyuuga clan doesn't have a claim on her, Kakashi. Not if she recognizes me as her guardian."

"So what will you do?"

"What will I do?" I sat up straight, looking up at the ceiling. "I'll have to go through the old clan records and affirm my position on the Council but the council members will be forced to recognize my claim. Hiashi will have a case, but he won't be able to win... Not if... seals... introductions... favors... I can do it."

"Do what, exactly?" Kakashi asked. I looked the now seasoned jounin, meeting his gaze with determination.

"I'm going to formally adopt Hinata in the Uzumaki clan. And I'll do it in such a way that not even Hyuuga Hiashi can talk his way out of the aftermath."


	6. Chapter 6

I sat at the kitchen table, surrounded by paperwork. There were boxes of records, contracts, and receipts on the ground. Kakashi was out with Hinata and Naruto, buying the latter clothing that actually fit him. Naruto and Hinata were both under powerful genjutsu for now, so that no one was the wiser that the Hyuuga heiress had returned or that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was still alive. After informing the Hokage, Kakashi set fire to Naruto's apartment. With some falsified reports, rumors that the boy had died in the fire flourished about the village. For now, he was safe. He spent nearly all of his time with Hinata under the guard of at least two ANBU, one of which was normally Kakashi. If Kakashi wasn't with the two, he was with me. We spent a lot of time in comfortable silence, just being glad to be in the other's presence, but he was also undeniably helpful for me. I couldn't do a lot without revealing that I was alive and in the village, so Kakashi was the one accessing the public records for me. When I left the house, I was either under a henge or the guise of my Root mask, the design of which I had been given free reign to decide. It was simple: on the white background was a single scarlet lightning bolt that ran from the very top of the mask till just above the jawline, cutting directly through the right eye of the mask, outlined on one side with a jagged black line. When I wore the mask, I was given the codename Inazuma.

My meetings with the Hokage grew regular and the receptionist, who I saw replaced twice before the woman earned my approval, grew used to my usually random appearances. We met almost every other day for weeks until I could give the elderly Hokage no more information. Each meeting was oddly bittersweet; it was both unsettling and comforting to talk about Root with someone other than Hinata or Kakashi but, at the same time, I was caught between lying to the Hokage of the trials Danzo forced his recruits through to ease his conscious or telling him the full truth to strengthen his desire to destroy Root. More often than not, I used the full truth but, for some things, I couldn't help but tell a half-truth. The emotion in the old man's eyes as he studied me was unbearable. I could handle a lot of emotions. Pity was one I despised and one that often appeared when I recounted my years as a recruit.

It was almost a full month before I decided that it was time.

Naruto had been 'dead' for almost a month and he'd never been happier. He was slowly being introduced into the shinobi arts so that, by the time he was reintroduced into the village, he would be able to defend himself properly. More than that, he had clothing that fit him, people that loved him, and was, for once, completely safe. He still had nightmares occasionally, but it was nothing that couldn't be handled. Hinata, Kakashi, and I had all had our share of nightmares.

Less than a week had passed since Hinata's first accidental slip-up before both she and Naruto began to refer to me as kaa-san. If they especially wanted to tease Kakashi, they'd jokingly call him tou-san. But, when I was spoken to, it was anything but a joke.

My case was prepared. The chances of me losing were slim.

So why, as I stood in front of the Council chambers as Inazuma, was I feeling so nervous?

I waited precisely three minutes as Hiruzen instructed before I pushed the double doors open, creating stir of movement within the chamber.

"What is it?" A female councillor asked acidly, glaring at me for interrupting the meeting. I stared at her levelly, glad my mask left my silver eyes exposed, and she shifted uneasily in her seat. Toning down the stare, I allowed my eyes to shift around the council. Once my Root instincts catalogued the exact number of shinobi and civilians in the room, any and all potential exits, and probable targets or allies, I strode towards the Hokage. No one moved. The ANBU, who had by now begun to recognize my appearance as normal, did not move to impede me as I stopped just feet away from the Hokage. I bowed swiftly.

"I have come to claim my seat on the Council, Hokage-sama," I said in a clear voice. Hiruzen nodded, a wizened smile coming to his features.

"Very well," he said. Hardly a moment passed before the Council was overtaken by chaos. Voices demanded my respect, to know who I was, to know how I knew the Hokage, to which clan I belonged, to whom was I allied, and such. I ignored them all and walked along the line of noble shinobi clans before coming to a stop in front of a heavy wooden chair on which was carved a whirlpool. I took my seat, leaning back comfortably as I ignored the growing cacophony of voices. Only a few were silent, chief among them the Aburame and the Hyuuga patriarchs sitting on either side of me.

"Uzumaki-san?" the Hokage called, bringing my attention to him. I looked up curiously and he smiled wryly. "Perhaps you could remove your mask. It would answer many of the councillors' questions, I believe."

"Of course, Jii-san," I chuckled, lifting the mask off of my face. I got to my feet, pushing my hands against the wooden desk in front of me, tossing my hair over shoulder with a nod. "I have come to claim my seat as Uzumaki clan head. It is my responsibility as the oldest known Uzumaki loyal to Konoha and it is my birthright as the only child of Uzumaki Jun and the niece of Uzumaki Kushina, the last known Uzumakis to have survived the destruction of Uzushiogakure. I am Uzumaki Rei, the Inazuma Senkou! The Uzumaki clan has been left to fallow in my... absence... and I'm here to return it to its former strength."

"A noble sentiment, Uzumaki-san, but you are the last of an all but extinct breed," Hiashi said from my left. I looked to him with a smirk.

"I am not the last. Another with Uzumaki blood lives within Konoha. I believe this Council voted towards his execution on a number of occasions." My words were carefully chosen but I needed to get my point across.

"The demon is not alive! He perished in a house fire nearly a month ago," a civilian spat angrily. I turned my eyes to him.

"A house fire that was orchestrated under my direction. I am well aware of my cousin's treatment within this village. Minato-oji- _your Yondaime_\- would be disappointed to learn that the village he died to protect has fallen as far as to attack and all but murder a young child."

"That _thing_ is not a child! He is a demon, a monster that destroyed our homes and killed our families. It killed Yondaime-sama! It deserves to die," the civilian sneered. My eyes hardened.

"Watch your tongue, civilian, or I may take it out," I said coldly. "Not only is the Sandaime's law regarding Naruto-kun's condition still in effect, I am Naruto-kun's guardian and clan head. You will treat Naruto with the respect he deserves as a member of my clan."

"Rei," the Hokage called, bringing me back to business. I glanced briefly in the old man's direction before sighing softly.

"Gomenasai... I understand that my reappearance in Konoha may cause a great deal of chaos and confusion. That is why I have delayed my introduction into this Council for as long as I have. The Hokage and I have agreed that my previous location, and the previous location of my ward, will remain an S-ranking secret much like Naruto-kun's condition, where only one personally affected or the Hokage can speak of it without repercussions."

"Another S-ranked secret?" Nara Shikaku groaned from his seat. "Uzumaki, your family just gets more and more troublesome..."

"I apologize, Nara-san," I smiled wryly, "for any inconvenience. In all honestly, I would rather have not spent the last six years as I did but I think you will agree that I had little alternative... Hyuuga-dono, do you recall what happened just over six years ago, on the night of the Kumo incident?"

"Of course I do, Uzumaki," Hiashi said, his voice cold. I looked at him evenly.

"Would you remind the Council of that night's events? Many current members were not yet installed at that point and therefore have a skewed idea of the night."

"After the treaty was signed, the Kumo nin went into my compound and kidnapped my, at the time, only daughter, Hyuuga Hinata. I managed to kill one of the assailants but the man with Hinata escaped my grasp. The bodies of the remaining Kumo nin were found just outside of the village gates, but Hinata was not among them or found in the weeks or years after."

"Very close," I nodded. "Another girl was kidnapped that night. Her parents, unfortunately, were faster than you, Hyuuga-dono, and able to overtake the shinobi. Uzumaki Jun and Raiden-Uzumaki Arisu took chase of the Kumo nin after their own daughter was kidnapped that very night. When they came upon the main of the Kumo shinobi's camp, they were ambushed and killed in the battle. Other shinobi came and disposed of the surviving Kumo nin before taking both Hyuuga Hinata and myself into their custody."

"So you and Hinata were taken in by these ninja?" a woman I recognized as a Haruno asked as politely as she could. I shook my head slowly.

"In a way... I believed these nin to at first be Konoha ANBU, due to the Konoha emblem on their uniforms, but I quickly discovered the truth. Since that fateful night, Hyuuga Hinata and I were trained to be soldiers of an outlawed branch of this government."

"Root," Shikaku groaned again. I nodded solemnly.

"Root," I confirmed before looking around the council. "Root was designed with the purpose to remove all emotion from a human, crafting them into perfect tools. The idea may sound pleasant, but the actuality is far from it. From the age of nine, I was trained to kill. I was put through exercises that most seasoned jounin would find unreasonable. At the age of nine, I watched as a Root ANBU medical nin dissected a human being, alive and without the use of anesthetics. I have had more broken bones than I can care to count. I have been physically and mentally tortured in ways that would make Orochimaru proud. All of this and more was done with the intent to turn me into the perfect tool. However, the mastermind behind Root failed to consider my growing bond with Hyuuga Hinata as a threat to the behavioral programming designed to bury my soul beneath scarring memories and revived instinct. It was a miscalculation on his part."

"Hinata?" Hiashi asked, his voice betraying hope. "What about Hinata?"

"Hinata, as you know, Hiashi-dono, was just two years old when we were taken. I... I grew protective of her and raised her as best I could. That simply human bond kept me sane despite Root's intense training regime. I kept her away from the worst of Root's tortures and accepted their punishments as training. Through their punishments, I grew stronger and grew from a child into the kunoichi I am today. Shortly before my fifteenth birthday, after which the true behavioral training would take place, I took Hinata and we escaped."

"Where is she?" Hiashi demanded. I smiled tightly in his direction.

"Her location is not a concern of this Council, Hiashi-dono. I will talk to you after the meeting in private. For now, though, know that she is safe and happy."

"I suppose that will do," he said somewhat grudgingly. Glancing to the Hokage, I nodded my head and he cleared his throat, returning attention to him.

"As you all should know, Root was officially disbanded years ago. I had suspected that the organization hadn't been dissolved but there was too little information and too much speculation surrounding the matter. Now, with the information Uzumaki-san has provided, I am preparing an operation to safely destroy the headquarters of the organization."

"What about the people?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked grimly.

"From what Uzumaki-san describes, there are nearly two hundred recruits. Children of identifiable families will be returned to their homes. The older of the recruits will be given the option to enroll in the Shinobi Academy or enlist as active nin once they are screened properly. The youngest, unfortunately, will have to be individually adopted through the orphanages or by the various clans of Konoha. The active operatives will be interrogated for further information but, after that, if they are able to be returned to the fighting force as regular nin, they'll receive an invitation to do so."

"And if they can't be integrated?" Inuzuka Tsume asked, her voice low.

"Then there's nothing we can do except stop their struggle," I found myself answering. When eyes turned to me, I absentmindedly began tracing circles on the wooden table before me. "In Root, you have no name. You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future. There is only the mission... That is the creed Root operatives live by. If the movement to destroy Root is detected, which I don't doubt it will be, the operatives will likely be ordered to defend the headquarters or die trying. If they can be integrated, they'll hesitate and be captured. If not, they will die either in the battle or by suicide once they've realized that they've failed their mission without hope of achieving the objective."

"That's horrible," the Haruno woman said, her hand covering her mouth to partially mask her horror. I looked at her with a grimace.

"That's Root."

"And you say that you and the lost Hyuuga heiress were trained by these shinobi?" I didn't recognize the civilian. I didn't need to know his name, however, to identify the emotion in his pale squinted eyes.

"I do."

"But then how did you get out?" He didn't believe me.

"One exercise the recruits are routinely run through is an Agility and Evasion course. The recruits are taken three miles out of the base and forced to run back. Just before my fifteenth birthday, when I would begin behavioral conditioning, I had Hinata utilize her Byakugan to keep an eye out for a weak point in the gauntlet of guards. She spotted one as we grew near to the base so I took Hinata and ran. We were chased by four operatives. They caught up with us a number of times, almost dragging us back to the headquarters, but I fought back to defend Hinata. Each time we escaped, I was a little more injured. Less than a mile from the village gates, Hinata was injured. It wasn't serious, hardly a scratch, but..." My fist clenched and my eyes narrowed at the desk.

"You don't have to say, Rei," the Hokage said comfortingly. I shook my head, looking back at the civilian.

"I lost my temper," I forced out, my voice a tense growl. "I became... blinded... by rage. When I came to, all four nin were dead. Hinata was largely unharmed, but I was badly hurt and exhausted. I couldn't continue at the pace we'd been setting, but she didn't see any other operatives coming to retrieve us. The last thing I remember was seeing the village gates appear in the distance."

"After that," the Hokage continued. "The two were found by loyal ANBU and taken to the hospital for medical treatment."

"But how can we be sure that this organization was Root?" the same man asked, his squinty eyes flashing with a sneer.

"How can we be sure? How can we be _sure_?" My voice was dangerously low as I leapt to my feet. I undid the straps holding my chest plate in place and swiftly lifted my shirt to show my midriff, revealing a dark puckered scar that stretched around my hip. In the dead center of the scar were just two words: _In Shadows._ "I am sure that I was recruited into Root because, when I was fourteen years old, I was ordered to murder a civilian family of five because they had alleged connections to an Iwa spy network. This was, my punishment, was burned into me for refusing, referring to one of Root's founding philosophies. Root is the foundation of the tree of Konoha, growing in the shadows where none can see. The stronger the roots, the stronger the tree becomes so, in order to grow and stay strong, we must undertake the most horrible missions."

I was morbidly smug when the man's face paled unhealthily. I could hear him swallow from across the room as his pale eyes bulged out. He shrank back into his chair and I lowered my shirt, forcing myself to take a steadying breath. I looked around the room.

"That does not leave this room. I kept Hinata sheltered from the worst of Root and I will continue to do so."

There was silence as I noted the emotions residing in the eyes of the council members. Anger, horror, sadness, resignation, pity. I hated pity.

"Uzumaki-san," I heard a woman's surprisingly soft voice. I turned to Tsume and was glad to see that her eyes held no pity for me. "There is nothing my clan holds in a higher regard than loyalty. I admire your determination to protect the Hyuuga girl, even though she wasn't a relative or close friend of yours. You've earned my respect."

"Arigatou, Inuzuka-san," I said, bowing my head gratefully.

The meeting continued without another mention of Root. Mind-numbing figures, construction plans, proposed acts, pressing judicial cases, relevant controversies- I was half asleep by the end of the meeting. I was about to escape when Hiashi's eyes turned to me determinedly before we had even left the room.

"Where is she?" he asked pointedly. I sighed tiredly.

"Hiashi-dono... I can take you to see her." I glanced briefly towards where the Hokage was gathering his belongings. "Jii-san, I will stop by later to schedule my aptitude screening," I called to the old man. He nodded slowly and I smiled briefly. The smile vanished when I turned back to Hiashi. "She's at my home."

Hiashi's expression twisted ever so slightly that, being a Hyuuga, was equated with a scowl. I acknowledged that as realization that his daughter had been so close to him, just down the street, and he had not known or suspected anything.


	7. Chapter 7

Once at the gate to the Raiden house, I paused, turning back to Hiashi.

"Before you see her... I need to remind you that she isn't the little girl you once knew. She spent almost all of her life afraid and that's changed her. She's learned to not trust easily. Don't think that, just because you're her biological father, she will let you in easily."

"She is still my daughter," he said stubbornly. I bowed my head in resignation.

"Hiashi-dono... She has already told me that she can't remember the faces of her parents. Whether you like it or not, _I_ am the one who took care of her for the past six years and _that_ is what she will remember."

Hiashi grimaced before he could school his expression into calm acceptance.

"Take me to her," he repeated. I nodded quickly and adjusted the wards on the house to allow him inside.

"Follow me. I will warn you right now that you will likely-"

I was silenced when Naruto and Hinata both came running around from the patio. Hinata was chasing the boy with a broad grin on her face. I scowled when I noticed the senbon in Hinata's small hand.

"Hinata," I called warningly. Both eight year olds stopped, their eyes snapping to me. Hinata not-so-stealthily hid the senbon in her sleeve and I sighed tiredly. "What did I tell you about playing with deadly weapons?"

"Only if-"

"No," I interrupted before she could finish. "The other one."

"... Don't do it?" she guessed sheepishly. I nodded slowly, trying to hide my smile at just how far she'd come out of her shell. She wasn't exactly the timid girl I raised and helped to train. With Naruto as a friend, she'd really come into her own. She would be a fantastic kunoichi.

"Hai. Don't play with deadly weapons," I repeated. I paused before amending my statement, "unless you and I are sparring. Then deadly weapons are fair-"

The senbon came whizzing towards me and I quickly drew a kunai and deflected it without a second thought. My expression did not change.

"Fair game," I finished. "But we are not sparring right now, imouto-chan. I'd like you to meet someone." Hinata's eyes glanced back at Hiashi and she straightened respectfully, bowing slightly. "Hinata, this is-"

"Hiashi-sama," she finished, too formerly for a daughter addressing her father. Hiashi seemed taken aback ever so slightly, as if the welcome was not as warm as he had expected.

"Hina-chan," I reprimanded lightly. I looked between the father and daughter before focusing on Naruto. "Naruto-kun, the council knows that you are under my protection. You should be safe leaving the property again."

"Do I have to?" he frowned. I smiled, laughing under my breath.

"I hope you will. I arranged for you to be enrolled in the Academy. You start this Monday," I informed him. His eyes widened slightly and his jaw dropped comically before I was body-slammed with the biggest hug I'd ever received. I nearly fell to the ground from the force of it but managed to plant my feet firmly on the ground using chakra before I lost my balance irreparably.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" he shouted excitedly. "I'm gonna be a ninja, dattebayo!"

I patted the small boy on the head, laughing gently.

"Hai, hai, now let go before you break a rib or two," I joked. He'd never be able to break _my_ ribs. Even so, he released me, now beaming at Hinata.

"Hear that, Hinata-chan? I'll be a ninja too!"

I could tell that Hinata's smile was a little forced but Naruto did not seem to notice. To spare her from any more of the blond's enthusiasm, I flicked the boy on the nose. I spoke over his consequent protestations.

"If you go back and finish that scroll I gave you, I'll take you to Ichiraku's tonight for dinner."

Naruto was at the front door by the time I stopped speaking, grinning from ear to ear. When he was gone, I sighed tiredly.

"I feel like I need a nap after I talk to him when he's like that," I murmured softly before looking back at Hiashi and Hinata. The two were looking at each other intently, having a silent conversation that I was not quite privy to. Their silence continued for a long moment until Hinata broke the connection, looking back at me.

"Is Hokage-sama going to have me go through the Academy with the kids?"

"Oi, you're a kid too, imouto-chan," I reminded her lightly, even though I knew what she meant. I hummed thoughtfully. "He'll probably want to make sure that you know the practical knowledge taught in the Academy and give you time to recover from... from Root. It'll probably be a few years before he lets you really become a full fledged kunoichi, if only to let you make some friends in your age group."

"... And if I want to go to the Academy?" she asked quietly. I noted that her eyes flickered towards the house and I resisted the urge to smile. She wanted to stay with Naruto.

"Then I'll talk to him about it," I promised before glancing back towards Hiashi. "Hinata, do you want to spend some time with your father? Naruto will be busy with that scroll for a few hours and Jii-san needs me to map out the Root base."

I could tell, just by looking into Hinata's eyes, that she knew what I was doing and wasn't happy with it. I was giving her a way to get away from me, if that was her choice. Even so, she wasn't too young or naive to completely dismiss the opportunity.

"Okay," she said somewhat uncertainly. She looked back at her father. "Could I meet Hanabi?"

At the almost innocent question, Hiashi almost smiled. As it was, he nodded with a new light in his eyes.

"Of course you can."

"Naruto and I will be at Ichiraku's around eight, if you want to meet us there," I told Hinata and Hiashi. With two swift nods, both Hyuuga were gone.

I watched Hiashi walk away with his daughter with an odd sense of loss welling up inside of me.

~Late that Night~

"Hiashi-dono." The man looked up as I was ushered into the study by a branch family member. He nodded at the other Hyuuga, dismissing him, and gestured me to sit across from his desk.

"I assume you're here about Hinata," he began. I nodded and placed a folder on his desk. He picked it up curiously and opened the folder. His face was overcome with shock for the first time since I'd met him. "This is-"

"That is the Caged Bird Seal, the seal that the main house Hyuuga use to bind their branch counterparts to them and seal the Byakugan after death. It was originally an Uzumaki design. That packet on the seal you use is all derived from Uzumaki Jun, Uzumaki Kushina, and Namikaze Minato's own notes on fuinjutsu."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Giving," I corrected. "I am giving that to you. The caged bird seal which you and your family members utilize was an uncompleted prototype. The next few pages in that folder are dedicated to the finalized version and another cousin seal. They are for you and your elders to use. If you'll allow me, I'll remove the current seals from all branch members so you can begin applying the new seal."

"And this connects to Hinata... You want her to continue to live with you?" he guessed, closing the folder with a light _snap_. I nodded.

"I do. Hinata grew up under my protection. I intend to keep her under my protection. The cousin seal I included in that packet is designed to lock the Byakugan. If someone is marked with that, their Byakugan will not pass on to their children."

"That seal could destroy the Hyuuga."

"Or it could be used to emancipate individuals. Cases have appeared in the past where Hyuuga have decided to marry outside of the clan. Those Hyuuga always seem to suffer some sort of accident, don't they?"

Hiashi stiffened angrily.

"If you are insinuating-"

"I am insinuating nothing. I am merely saying that, if Hinata would rather stay with me, she will not hesitate to take the seal. She will be accepted as a member of the Uzumaki clan and I will teach her fuinjutsu as my father's notes have taught me. Her children, if she eventually has children, will not possess her doujutsu and therefore the Hyuuga clan will remain the sole masters of the Byakugan."

Hiashi studied me for a long moment.

"I am Hinata's father."

"Hinata calls me 'mother,'" I said back smoothly. "You should know, Hiashi-sama, that if this comes to a debate before the council, I have evidence and cause enough to force you to emancipate Hinata into my care. I would rather not do that. It would make this easier for me, Hinata, and your clan's reputation if you allowed her to stay with me."

"That is not your decision to make."

"No. It is Hinata's," I admitted. "But if Hinata chooses me, I want to know that I won't receive any grief or resistance from your clan."

"And if she chooses to rejoin her clansmen?"

"Then I will let her go. All the evidence I've stacked up against your clan, every dirty secret I've uncovered, will disappear forever. Unless," I stipulated, "I think she is unhappy. Then I will force an emancipation and adopt her into my clan."

There was a heavy silence. I refused to look away from Hiashi's unflinching stare. After a long moment, he looked down at the file resting on his desk.

"If..." He paused, hesitating. "If Hinata would rather stay with you, she may. I do not want this to turn into a dispute. I appreciate you bringing the finished seal to me and I will contact you within the week about removing the current seals from the branch family members."

"Thank you," I said sincerely, getting to my feet smoothly. I offered my hand to Hiashi and he accepted it almost gingerly. "I will delay talking to Hinata about whom she stays with, so she gets to know you and your clansmen better before making the decision. But, you should know that I am asking Hokage-jii to enroll her in the Academy with Naruto."

"I was thinking of doing much the same," Hiashi nodded. He returned his attention to the papers on his desk and I took that as a dismissal, saying my goodbyes and leaving without another word. There was nothing more to be said.


	8. Chapter 8

My breathing was even as I slowly pushed the sandpaper along the grain of the support column I was finishing. With little else to do while I was still on probation, I had taken to fixing up the gardens to their previous glory. It was bittersweet to bring back some of its old beauty but also refreshing to be able to start the entire area over again to make it how I wanted it.

The training ground was already finished. I had smoothed out the old damages from where my parents had fought the Kumo nin and planted flowers around the copse of trees where they had fallen in their memory. I'd taken down all of the old traps littering the small forested area and gathered the miscellaneous weapons that were, even after all these years, rusting away half-buried in trees or lying on the ground from old training sessions.

Now I was rebuilding the gazebo. I wasn't entirely sure why, since I was certain that I would hardly need a gazebo, but something told me that it was important. In any case, it took my mind off of the sheer boredom I was suffering from.

I had realized that it was an easy thing to say that I was going to reclaim my life but now that Hinata and Naruto were both enrolled in the Academy and Kakashi was sent away on a mission, I didn't have a lot to do. Inoichi prescribed a three month leave of recovery from all shinobi duties as soon as he had finished sifting through my head. Whatever he saw scared him a hell of a lot more than it scared me, a fact that made the man himself very agitated. Mitarashi Anko, on the other hand, was extremely interested in meeting me and talking about Endurance. It was strange to speak to her, since she always enjoyed being shown scars or told stories about the various torture methods that had been used against me. It was through discussions like that that I realized that my ability to ignore pain wasn't exactly common. I was allowed to peruse the T&amp;I Department as soon as Inoichi was sure that seeing other people tortured wouldn't trigger memory reemergence or anything along those lines and, in that time, only Morino Ibiki seemed to share my ability to disregard pain, and that was after he did intelligence gathering during the third war.

I blew gently on the wood, sending dust motes and sawdust swirling into the air. Running my hand over the smooth wood, I smiled wryly.

In theory, there was a lot I _could_ be doing. In practical terms... Not so much. I needed to wait before I could take missions again. My seals were as good as they were going to get until I met with an actual master, and I had no idea when Jiraiya was supposed to be in the village. I had spent the past six years of my life training; I didn't need to do any more for a while. I didn't have very many friends to find, thanks to the years I spent in Root. Naruto was safely under Umino Iruka's guard at the Academy and Iruka knew that, if Naruto came home in less than perfect, I'd take it out on him. Hinata was with Naruto as well, her presence assuring me that Naruto wouldn't suffer at the Academy.

I had nothing that needed immediate doing, and that bothered me on an extreme level.

In Root, every day was severely scheduled. Everything ran smoothly, like clockwork, day in and day out. It might have been a stressful routine, but it was one that had grown increasingly familiar and, now that I didn't have it to rely on, almost comforting to have.

But now I had nothing to do.

Summoning a clone to help, the gazebo was fixed up in no time. With a dark finish drying on the smooth wood, I turned my attention to the next menial task, feeling as if I was a fresh genin assigned a laundry list of D-ranks.

* * *

I saved going through my parents' room for last, knowing that it would take the longest for me to do. This was something I could only do now, when Kakashi was on a mission and the kids were at the Academy. The ANBU assigned to guard me was still forced to patrol the grounds from the perimeter, as I had refused to allow anyone new into the seals until I personally knew them, so I was completely alone.

I entered the room quietly, closing the door behind me with a gentle _click_. Everything was covered in dust, of course, but I couldn't see a single cobweb. The pest control seals were still functioning, then. That was good to know.

Beneath the thick smell of dust, I could just barely catch something else, so faint I might have imagined it. _Cinnamon._ My mom had a strange taste for the spice, something she had apparently picked up when she was pregnant with me. Even after I'd been born, though, the craving never left. She used to keep cinnamon sticks all over the house in little glasses, just to infuse the entire house with the smell. The scent was absent from the rest of the house by now, but I could still sense it here.

With a dry mouth, I walked over to the bookshelf, running my finger along the dusty spines. While nearly all of the books downstairs had been dedicated to improving as a shinobi, these were all pleasure reading. Pulling _After the Tide_ from the shelf, I flipped to the back cover to show the author page, where my dad's pale-violet eyes met mine. There hadn't been many copies sold, but I clearly recalled how proud my dad had been to have written the only first person account of the fall of Uzushio.

I cleaned in the dusty bedroom for hours, not leaving until I could feel Hinata and Naruto come through the wards guarding the property. I rushed downstairs to the kitchen, throwing a quick snack together for the two, and gave myself time to breathe before they came in.

_I'll need to buy some cinnamon..._

* * *

I smiled as Teuchi set a bowl of ramen in front of both Naruto and I, only half-listening to the much-embellished tale Naruto was regaling me with. Hinata, thanks to a deal I'd worked out with Hiashi, was spending the day after Academy with the Hyuuga clan and then coming home to the Raiden house after dinner. That way she got to know the family she'd be leaving without leaving Naruto and I behind completely.

"Eat up!" Teuchi grinned. I smiled back at the man, glad that he'd been one of the few to be decent to Naruto before I returned to the village. From what Naruto told me, he'd been getting treated better by the other citizens a little better over the month since I took over as the Uzumaki matriarch but that didn't forgive years of neglect and abuse. Naruto deserved to have people precious to him.

"... Then Iruka-sensei wants me to spar with that teme-"

"Manners," I chided gently as Naruto leapt into a new facet in his story. Naruto deflated somewhat before continuing.

"Then Iruka-sensei wants me to spar with _Sasuke_," he corrected quietly before rushing into the rest of his story. Halfway through his story- involving a very narrow defeat at his rival's hands that he resolved to avenge- Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "Anyway, the te- _Sasuke_ starts talking about how much training he's been getting from Itachi-"

"Itachi?" I repeated sharply. Naruto stopped talking at once, his mouth snapping shut, and nodded once. "Uchiha Itachi?"

"Hai... Sasuke's older brother. He seems really nice, but a bit weird."

I couldn't listen to Naruto's description of Itachi, not when I already knew him myself. If Itachi was in the village, with his family, the situation was going to get out of hand _very_ soon.

"Naruto-kun, I forgot that I had to go talk to Jiisan about something really important. Could you wait here until Hinata and her father come? Umi-san will make sure that you're safe, okay?"

"Alright..." Naruto mumbled, a little sadly. I got to my feet quickly, paying for everything we'd already eaten and putting enough on the counter for another few bowls just in case Naruto decided to have more. I leaned towards him, kissing him quickly on the forehead and ruffling his hair before dashing out, leaving Naruto protesting as he tried to flatten his hair.

* * *

Donning my ANBU mask, I crept silently through the shadows, keeping my senses on high-alert. With the political atmosphere so tense around the Uchiha, it would not be good for a ninja dressed as a Konoha ANBU to be found creeping through their compound towards the house of the clan head and his family.

A whisper of air alerted me to a presence as it very suddenly appeared behind me. I drew a kunai, earning a very short flare of sparks as a tanto skidded against the blade.

"Itachi," I breathed. He stared at me impassively, almost coldly, before a surprised look overtook his features. He stepped back from me, sheathing his tanto. I realized that he must have just gotten back from a mission, as he was wearing his ANBU armor, his mask pushed to the side. A few dark spots were spread across his right hand and arm, with which he utilized his tanto. I had a strong sense that it was blood but I'd spent too much time around blood to be uncomfortable with the idea.

"Why are you in the Uchiha Compound? I thought Sakana was the only other ANBU to be stationed here."

"I wasn't stationed here; I had to find you." I reached up and shifted my mask to the side, exposing my face. Itachi's brow furrowed in confusion as he studied my face. Then at once, recognition flared in his eyes. He opened his mouth, and I could see my name forming on his tongue but I shushed him. "Not here. Follow me," I murmured.

Itachi nodded silently, replacing his mask. I adjusted my mask as well before jumping up onto the rooftops, heading away from the clan compound. Once we were a safe distance away, in one of the many forested training grounds, I came to a stop. Itachi landed next to me gracefully as I glanced around, opening my senses to look for any onlookers. Not finding any, I nodded to Itachi.

"Why are you in Konoha? I thought you were still locked into training," Itachi said, confused. I shook my head.

"I'm done with Root. Hinata and I broke out about a month ago," I explained. A dark light appeared in Itachi's eyes.

"That's why he was so anxious the last time I saw him," he noted seriously. I frowned, prompting Itachi to go into more detail. "The mission Shimura-sama would have me do... He's ordered the date to be pushed up. Now, instead of three months, it's supposed to take place within the next two weeks."

"You can't do it, Itachi."

"It is my mission," Itachi said with a resigned seriousness. I narrowed my eyes but, before I could say anything, he changed the subject. "Now you say that you _escaped_ Root?"

"During Agility and Evasion. It nearly killed me to get here, but we both made it back."

"Rei, if he finds you, he will have you killed without a second thought. What are you doing out in the open?" Itachi asked, glancing around as if to see Root nin ready to strike.

"You think I don't know that?" I scoffed softly. "I broke out almost two months ago. If he kills me now, it'll only tip off the Hokage that Danzo is mobilizing. Even if he does kill me, it'll be too late. Sandaime-sama is almost ready to move against Root."

"Move against Root?" Itachi's eyes looked as if they were going to jump out of his skull. "Does he have any idea-"

"I provided him with the figures... He knows full well what he's up against. He's only accepting volunteers for this mission because of how dangerous it'll be."

"And you've volunteered." It wasn't a question.

"I was hoping you would too... Or, at least, that you won't be on the other side."

Itachi wasn't a Root shinobi. As the heir to the Uchiha clan, it would have been far too obvious for Danzo to make a move to snatch him up but Danzo was lucky enough that Itachi didn't need to be snatched. Having seen the damage of the last war, Itachi vowed to protect Konoha first without exception, a nindo that made him very vulnerable and valuable to the elder. Itachi still had his soul, but it rested in Danzo's hands.

"To fight against Root would amount to a civil war."

"Danzo is kidnapping _children_, Itachi. He is taking them and breaking them, twisting and bending until he's destroyed everything human about them! How would you feel if it had been Sasuke that was taken instead of Hinata? If it was Sasuke instead of _me_? Would you be so forgiving, so accepting of his decisions?"

That gave Itachi pause and I knew, in that moment, that Danzo might have had his soul but his little brother still had his heart. Itachi wasn't going to complete his mission whether he wanted to or not; he couldn't hurt his otouto.

"I love Hinata as much as you love Sasuke. I'm not going to let that bastard get away with what he tried to do to her." I turned to walk away, having said what I came to say. "If you're in, go to the Hokage. He won't begrudge you the past if you do the right thing now."

"My clan will still need to be dealt with."

"Then let me deal with it. I just need another month."

"It's supposed to be done in two weeks," Itachi said between clenched teeth. "And if I don't do it, he'll get someone else to."

I didn't doubt that. Danzo had an army at hand that would die without question if it benefited their leader's cause. But I doubted he had anyone under his control strong enough to destroy the entire Uchiha clan. There was only Itachi, who knew all of the safety protocols and hiding spots. There was only Itachi, who wasn't truly his soldier but could fight as mercilessly if his village was in danger.

"Then make him get someone else. Don't do it."

I left without another word. I had to plan.


End file.
